#what i know is that 'public schools' = private schools and its a big deal + idk brexit

[alexanderpearce]

after reading like three uk political books two of the things i really dont understand on a cultural or literal level (and that i also dont really care to) about britain are the europe thing and the public/state schools thing

#what i know is that 'public schools' = private schools and its a big deal + idk brexit #shut up ulrike #a journey liveblog

[nouies]

hiii im the anon who want smau recs SJDJWJS they're just so fun to read and i can't find any 4 some reason 😭

hi anon! i’m going to list them in two categories: completed and ongoing, in no specific order. pls read the warnings when you click on each au. let me know if you want me to create a monthly rec list as i do with ao3 fics.

COMPLETED

໑ is ur mother worried? by @outropeace Where Louis' boyfriend wants to have a threesome for his birthday and he has set his eyes on the captain of the football team Harry Styles. Only issue? He is also the president of Louis' fraternity and knows he doesn't stand a chance against him.

໑ cowboy harry (a/b/o) by louis28angels Harry is an old farmer who doesn't do much except taking care of his animals and vegetables. Louis is the sweetest country girl that sells seeds and fertilizers to him. Things go a little deeper than that.

໑ big lip by louis28angels Pleasing releases its new lip balm and Lewith (Louis) is the model scheduled for the campaign. What happens when the worldwide singer and owner Harry Styles finds out the new model is just the most beautiful person he's ever seen in his life?

໑ pen pals by loulaylor Where Louis' uni started a system where you're assigned a pen pal in the beginning of the year, you only find out their identity at the end of the semester. Harry and Louis have never liked each other. they don't know they're each other's pen pals.

໑ Rockstar Harry & Opener Louis by babygirloui Louis is the vocalist of a band that will be opening for Harry Styles' tour, the Rockstar everybody has a crush on but is known for not having many public friends. We he gets closer to a member of said band fans start thinking it could be something else.

໑ Model Louis & Hockey player Harry by babygirloui Harry's career as a hockey player is going better than ever but his private life is falling apart, now he has to deal with a divorce, think what is best for his son, handle the media following his every step and try not to fall for the cute face that he sees everywhere.

໑ i’m your biggest fan by bunnylouies Where pop star Harry and model Louis part ways after a nightly adventure, just for Harry’s manager to want Louis to star in his newest mv. They both find themselves lost in more than they bargained for.

໑ football player Harry/campus journalist Louis by bunnylouies The attention wasn’t new to him, but in this case Louis didn’t even know how to deal with it. Surely their college set up a nice idea but he was not meant to receive these gifts every single day. Or was he?

໑ sugar rim by @nouies Louis misses his flight home on Christmas Eve. He stumbles upon a bartender who will change his night—and possibly his life.

ONGOING

໑ enemies to lovers by louis28angels Where Harry is the captain of the school's team, and Louis is their main cheerleader. They hate each other, except Harry is completely crazy about Louis.

໑ sugar and spice and everything nice by loupunkprincess Louis is a content creator who posts about his life as a baker and a mother of a cute girl. Harry, a small artist, is their fan and enjoys baking along during their lives. fate works in funny ways.

໑ pleasing by loulaylor Divorced father and CEO of Pleasing, Harry Styles, meets his new digital marketer, Louis Tomlinson, who won't stop posting silly things on the Pleasing social media accounts. Louis is the one person not intimidated by Mr Styles. Cue instigator Louis and grumpy Harry.

໑ Holmes Chapel by loubrry Louis received a strange text from an unknown number and gets involved in a messed up situation about a girl's disappearance.

໑ Influencer Louis & Gamer Harry by babygirloui Harry is known for his attitude and his mean group of fans. When Louis' friend send him a clip of a gamer making fun of him, he decides to confront him without realizing the big online fight that could start. After being public enemies no one expected them to fall in love.

໑ Fake relationship by babygirloui When singer Harry Styles gets in trouble, his team decides that the best idea is to ask the one celebrity they have near for help. Louis didn’t know what he was getting into when he agreed to go on tour with his photographer boyfriend.

໑ baker Louis/lawyer Harry a/b/o by bunnylouies Louis is a sweet omega raising his 5 year old son by himself. Harry is a strict and professional alpha. What happens when their paths cross? Will they be able to learn from the other or will it only cause trouble?

໑ eat the rich! by BLOUBIRDSHONEY In which Harry Styles, a retired model turned CEO, finds himself too buried in his work to shop for himself. Cue in Louis Tomlinson, a personal shopper who scams his clients.

໑ FEASTING ON THE FLOWERS, CHOKING ON YOUR LOVE by tomlinloufae You would probably never expect someone like Louis in the club where the punk rock band Vicious plays as the main band of every Friday night. People that go there eat boys like Louis for breakfast but he's not scared of them or Harry, frontman of Vicious, who scares almost everyone. However, this might be the first time Harry is the one who feels scared and it's not because of none other but the sweet boy with flowers in his hair who is trying everything in his power to make him fall in love with him... ໑ farmer Harry/influencer Louis by adorelousi Farmer himbo Harry is in a parasocial relationship with influencer city it girl Louis. When their mutual friend Niall sets them up on a date that’s when Harry’s insecurities get in the way and ruins everything… or does it?

໑ wedding planner Louis by louigallery Louis is the best wedding cerimonialist in the upper-crust NY circles. One of his friends is getting married with a rich kid, just one more normal situation… Or not, when you found out the groom is the man who you had the best night of your life years ago.

໑ college au by sunny_llou Where Harry has problems with the library printer and a cute and nervy boy help him with the jammed paper. ໑ bad idea right? by jacksescapade After being offered a longer contract to work with Disney and move closer to home, Harry jumps at the chance. Except, unbeknownst to him, his infuriating colleague (and self-appointed arch nemesis) isn’t above flying halfway across the world to annoy him.

໑ Flowers, dates and cats by mybluebirdd1 Both Louis and Harry give online dating a last chance. They found the perfect guy. But what happens when they find out that they've been both talking to the same guy at the same time for months. But will this twist of fate make them fall in love.

໑ Ice cold by lrrysmau Harry is a hockey team Captain who made it his life goal to get them to the #1 place in the worldwide charts. Louis is an figure skater who loves what he does and naturally, hates hockey players.

໑ enemies to lovers twitter au by 369rry Harry is a big account on Twitter that gained popularity from his viral tweets about love and relationships. Louis only downloaded Twitter to be a troll. They start beefing but refuse to block each other. They don’t know that they go to the same university...

#hlficlibrary #allwaswell16 #hlcreators #hljournal #* #*smrec

[illyrianbitch]

hey i'm so sorry to hear about the issue w your university n ur friend passing away. not sure where u live but if it's the us, if the government can't hinder freedom of speech n protest then your school most certainly cannot especially if it's a public university n i cannot imagine them withholding your degree will hold up in court if u go that route. but the us government is useless n hell bent on funding colonialism n genocide instead of pursuing human rights (shocker). i hope things w ur school go in your favor. as for ur loss, grief isn't linear and it's hard to deal w n affects everyone differently; give yourself as much time and grace as u need!

thank you <3 my school is a very small private university so things are a bit iffy because of the student conduct that we agree to (which is where they were fighting me on. there was no direct mention to my protest actions, but we all know that’s what caused it.) it was basically thinly veiled threat in our meeting where they were like yeah….your behavior recently is against our conduct and you made people uncomfortable and threatened them (absolutely did not) and it would’ve such a shame if you had a suspension on your record…(some of our big alumni and donors are zionists)

that being said i have some amazing professors helping me out and the dean of the honors college that i’m apart of (who i think is more than willing to help me out.) its just a big hassle

as for my friend, thank you. 💗 back in september i had another friend take their life so two within a school year is just…it’s a little heavy. and my heart is mourning a lot more than my brain can right now with finals and fighting this suspension. but grief is such a strange thing. im 22 now and im mourning my friend like im 15 again, like we’re back in 9th grade and hes lifting my waterbottle too high for me to reach. all so surreal, yknow?

i appreciate your words and the support, means the world to me <3

#lots and lots of love #take this as your reminder that you are loved #and the world is better with you in it

[leagueofgardens]

The Origins of Assault Lily

In 2005, Obanazawa Kenei (the original creator of Assault Lily, which officially launched much later in 2013) posted a description of a setting that he called "Private!¹ Yurigaoka Girls' Academy" on his blog. Later, he put up an expanded write-up on the website of a model dealing partnership he was a member of. This is an English translation of the expanded write-up.

In translating it, I tried to be as literal as possible while also conveying the rather casual tone that most of the original writing has.

I translated this because I think it's genuinely interesting to see how some of these ideas continued into Assault Lily, while others were changed or discarded. I have assumed that Obanazawa doesn't mind people reading this because it's still online and he has mentioned it in interviews about Assault Lily, but if he ever indicates that he no longer wants it to be public, I'll delete this post.

¹ Private as in "Yurigaoka is a private school", not as in "Obanazawa didn't want anyone to see this."

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy — Setting

In the 23rd century, because of various changes in the planet's environment, living things have also rapidly mutated and evolved.

Some of them have turned into monsters that prey upon humans.

Developed countries have invented new weapons to oppose these monsters, and it's the responsibility of all of humanity to use these weapons. This is so that every single person has the means to defend themselves.

Teenagers are the best at learning how to become warriors, and to train them in advanced fighting techniques, the high school curriculum now includes combat as a subject of study.

Japan is no exception to the state the world is in, and the Ministry of Education oversees the new curriculum. It's been 30 years since that happened. The story begins in 2230, when the belief that humanity can't survive without fighting has spread throughout society.

Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy… a missionary school for girls that moved to Ikuta² after the new education requirements were implemented.

It's an elite high school that's recognized for teaching its students everything from advanced tactics and strategy to one-on-one fighting, training in the use of the latest weapons, and more. Atop a low hill stands its beautiful cathedral, and its gate rises towards the heavens. A garden in which the chosen maidens gather… that's what Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is.

The setting of Private! Yurigaoka Girls' Academy

Well, it's the year 2200, and all sorts of creatures on the planet have evolved, in a bad way.

So you see, humanity isn't at the top of the food chain any longer. Uh-oh, lizards got all big, so there's dragons and stuff now. Other wacky creatures (you know, monsters! The real gross kinds! Ones with tentacles and stuff!) are spreading all over the place. That means that by the time people are high schoolers, they've gotta be stronger than anyone believed possible! They'll already be drilling like soldiers! Because that's how strong humanity is, y'know? Everyone on the planet is a warrior, that's what this is like! But there hasn't been a world war or some kind of disaster that destroyed the Earth, so civilization is still moving right along. There was a lot of inequality in the world once, but when the monsters showed up, they wiped all that away. So things aren't like that any longer. Anyway! Civilization's progressing in all sorts of ways. Humans aren't Night Heads³ anymore, for the most part. Almost everyone can use over half of their brainpower now. And among those hidden powers, people have plenty of abilities that are a lot like magic and superpowers. So now, with these powers they've gotten that completely ignore the laws of nature, humanity is fumbling for a way to try and remove themselves from the food chain once again. Even in this world, Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is amazing. Guns of all sorts, swords, hand-to-hand fighting—their graduates have all found a way of fighting to call their own, and are throwing themselves into the battle to protect humanity.

Yurigaoka's Unique Educational Systems

1: The Schutzengel System

This is a system where an older student becomes the Schutzengel (meaning guardian angel) to one of her juniors. It's a system dating from the time when Yurigaoka was a Christian school. Well, this part is just like it is in "Someone-sama is Watching"⁴, hee hee. This is a parody, after all, so please excuse the silliness. Anyway, the three school years are known as Erzengels (archangels, 3rd-year students), Schutzengels (guardian angels, 2nd-year students), and stray sheep⁵ (1st-year students), with students from each year taking care of the younger ones. This is a big deal for the party system, which I'll talk about later, and other things too.

2: The party system

At Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy, there's a system where three people will join up into a party. Of course, the girls in a party together have a super-strong bond! Students can form whatever parties they like, as long as at least one member is a senior. Fighting monsters isn't so easy that three inexperienced girls from the same school year could get together and do it, after all.

3: Sororities⁶

Sororities are a bit like social clubs, but it's not like everyone has to join one. They're like any other club or after-school activity. There are a whole bunch of sororities at Yurigaoka, but five of them are officially recognized by the school, and these five all have their own requirements to join. Being a strong fighter or a good student, that sort of thing. Sororities are an opposing force to the Student Council, which has immense power, and the fact is that it's their presence that allows the school to operate in a democratic manner. The leaders of sororities are called "Masters", and each of them has inherited one of the several special deposited⁷ weapons that are called Gears.

Yurigaoka's Curriculum

Year One

Yurigaoka uses a credit system, and the first year is used to determine the aptitude of new students. Basic fighting skills, handling and practical use of their main weapons, simulation games, mock battles and so forth are all used to choose the best warriors among them. The available electives are equipment training (with missile launchers, bombs, communication gear and so forth.) The most important thing is for students to find a fighting style they're good at. They're also trained to fight in the parties they'll be in later. Normally, during this year, every student will find a Schutzengel who she'll call "Onee-sama." Second-year students also believe that to become a proper student, they need to choose a stray sheep to guide, so they'll be looking for a younger girl who they like during this time. But those who enter into an oath with one another also usually join the same party, so it's not solely about liking or disliking each other personally.

Year Two

It's well known that Yurigaoka is strict with allowing only those who have earned it to graduate, and advancing to the next school year is equally challenging. To progress to their second year, students must have mastered the Deposition⁷ Synchro-System. The Deposition Synchro-System, which allows someone to instantly materialize various weapons, serves as proof that one is a senior Yurigaoka student. (This is a rip-off of Gavan.)⁸ The students will continue advancing the skills they learned during their first year, as they begin fighting real battles as parties. Second-year students also study, as a required subject, the Deck Battle System that uses Sealed Card Decks. By collecting cards, each of which has a special technique with unusually potent offensive ability sealed within it, they'll get highly effective attacks they can use while fighting monsters, although there's a limit to the number of times they can be used. (This is a rip-off of Kamen Rider Ryuki and Blade.)⁸ Notably, the reason that the 13 special weapons used to protect the school are considered special is that because they can take cards that are unusually powerful and effective. These 13 special weapons, called "Gears", belong to the leaders of the student council and the masters of the sororities, and are passed down to others through various means.

Year Three

All the third-year students of Yurigaoka, with their amazing powers, hold the future of Japan in their hands. They've gotten even more accurate and proficient with the Deposition Synchro-System they learned in year one, and the Deck Battle System they learned in year two. They can now elevate party battles to new heights. Third-year students don't need to use wild strategies. They can just charge right in and overwhelm the enemy. That's the true mark of a third-year. As many important positions in the school as possible are held by third-years, like the three student council presidents (the Yellow Lily, White Lily, and Red Lily, hee hee.)⁴ If you hear a girl say without hesitation that she'll take on a thousand enemies, you know she's a senior Yuri girl.

Later On

Graduates from Yurigaoka Private Girls' Academy can proceed straight to Yurigaoka Girls' College. The college's clubs also attract strong fighters who aren't students there.

Weapons and That Sort of Thing

It's not part of the curriculum, but Yuri girls are expected to take many credits' worth of electives during their three years at the school. Depending on their decisions and how motivated they are, they can earn a lot of credits doing this. The electives include weapons training and live combat courses. Oh, and also, the weapons should be the futuristic sort, but the near future. The reason is that I don't know a thing about weapons, hee hee! The only gun I know about is the P-90 from Gunslinger Girl! The only thing I know about warships is some are called Aegis warships! That's why! So keep in mind this is fantasy, in a lot of senses of the word! Someone lend me their brain here! Weapons! I know nothing about them!

The Location

Well, Yurigaoka Girls' Academy is near Ikuta Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line (but this story takes place in 2200, remember? Don't try to find it!) Not Mukogaoka Yuen! Ikuta! The school's on a small hill, where there used to be an experimental facility⁹ used by the old Japanese Army. Yeah, that place! You think the neighbors know about it? By the way, the only trains on the Odakyu line nowadays are those "Romancecar" express trains¹⁰. What's with that?

Gears

These are the 13 special weapons. Not only are their fundamental abilities an order of magnitude better, they have special card readers which can read advanced decks called High Rankers' Decks. They're the latest weapons used to protect the school, and can only be used by people whom they themselves deem worthy. It's impossible for anyone else to use them. Those who can use the Gears also become able to use High Rankers' Decks. The case holding the decks has a thin LCD display that can be used like a touch-sensitive PDA. By entering the right password, you can use super special techniques! The passwords are things like 555, 333 and 000. (This is a rip-off too.)⁸

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy Character Illustrations

I've chosen not to repost Obanazawa's illustrations here because I don't like reposting illustrations that belong to people and not corporations. But you can see them on the original website.

These are characters that I, Obanazawa Kenei, drew.

My scanner is broken, so I took and uploaded these with my mobile phone's camera!

It's crazy, I know! But even if they weren't photos they wouldn't be great!

1: Ruri and Miki¹¹

On the left is the model for this kit. She's a new student who just entered Yurigaoka by passing the high school entrance exam. Yurigaoka has a junior high school, high school and university, so it's pretty tough to enter midway through. But fortunately! Ruri has a gentle, yet sometimes strict onee-sama to guide her! (Yeah, yeah…) On the right is her onee-sama, Miki, a second-year at Yurigaoka. Miki is one of the student council presidents. She's a remarkable person who will soon be one of the pillars supporting Yurigaoka! Oh, and she's rich enough that it'll blow your mind!

Text on the first image My scanner's busted as usual, so I took this on my phone. On the left is the main character, Ruri. I imagine her voice as Saito Chiwa's! On the right is the girl who becomes her onee-sama, Miki. I imagine her voice as Hitomi Nabatame's! My drawings don't have a pattern to them, huh? I can't tell them apart myself!

2: The Commander of the Tricolor Lilies! Shigure Hisae

Yurigaoka's student council has three presidents, and one of them is her, Shigure Hisae. She's a straight-laced person who seems like she's similar to a samurai, but she's one of the most capable student council presidents of all time. She's especially skilled with swords and uses the Gear "Mistilteinn."

So, this girl, before I get too into things, I want to say she's based on Signum¹²! It's fine, isn't it? I just can't say "Laevateinn!" Oh, and watch out for the tentacles, hee hee!

Footnotes

² Ikuta is a train station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture on the Odakyu Odawara line. It's two stops before Yurigaoka (the station called that, not the Garden, which in current canon isn't even in Kawasaki.) ³ "Night Head" refers to the 70% of their brain that most humans (supposedly) don't use. Those who can use more of their brain have psychic powers. The term comes from a 1992 Japanese television series of the same name. ⁴ This is a reference to Maria-sama ga Miteru. ⁵ Obanazawa wrote this as "stray sheep" in English, otherwise I'd have translated it as "lost lambs." ⁶ I haven't talked about them on this blog before, but this concept survives in Assault Lily as the "Labyrinth Sorority", a clandestine society that acts as a check on the power of Yurigaoka's student council. They operate an unofficial legion, LG Ginnungagap, whose members are registered with the school as freelance Lilies and sortie together. ⁷ Deposition (in Japanese, 蒸着, jouchaku) is a reference to the tokusatsu show Space Sheriff Gavan, where the titular sheriff yells "Deposition!" to have his spaceship encase him in Granium particles that form into his combat suit. In physics, deposition is when a solid surface is coated by individual molecules of another substance (metal plating is one type of deposition.) ⁸ Just to be clear: Obanazawa actually wrote these things here himself. They're not some kind of editorial by me, the translator (the only things I added were these footnotes and the sentences all in italic.) ⁹ This seems to be referring to the Noborito Research Institute, which is now a museum. ¹⁰ I think this is Obanazawa complaining about the real world, not anything related to the setting… Can't be sure though. ¹¹ Ruri's name is almost definitely Ruri, but I'm less sure about Miki. It's not as likely, but the kanji in her name could be pronounced Mitsuki or Miyuki instead. It's impossible to tell from what's written here. ¹² From Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's.

#assault lily #asslily #assault lily lore #yurigaoka girls' academy

[vaingod]

What are some of the things you've noticed about these middle class city gays and their lifestyles? What are some of the things that stood out to you the most that is completely normalized? Because I see these pretty gay boys from the global north on Instagram and how perfect and white their teeth are, iPhone, MacBook, nice restaurants, nice gyms, holidays, expensive clothes that look very plain but you know that plain white t shirt was somehow $100 to me its like when Katniss sees the people in the Capitol and I just can't relate...especially since theyre all so skinny and pretty and have nice things!

Ok im saying this all as an immigrant thats lived here for a decade and still experiences this disconnection between city gays. Its the money, its always the amount of money they are comfortable throwing away on tech like you said but its more than just some rando city person buying themself an apple product once every 3 years or something. In order to live the life that you noticed these people tend to live you need 1 of the 2.

1. Rich parents. Most city gays that you see on Instagram are these. They usually go to school or have a job like one day a week type deal but they dont worry about rent or bills ever, no number on paper scares them to say the least but they are also really weird about you paying back like coffees or miniscule shit.

2. Are in debt. Most of my friends that are middle class are this

Like i wont forget meeting this girl through a drag actor friend of mine and she was cool and one of those all pink people so we vibed nicely until she started pulling up pages and pages of clothes and shoes and furniture that cost more than ive spent my entire life and talking about all the things she wants like a bratty child and i was losing my grip on reality before she talked about her hot pink custom paint job porshe and how her dad payed for it all cus she wasnt gonna drive a boring straight car. Like this attitude specifically is what drives me up the wall cus as someone whos jumped to and from alternative scenes a big appeal was making my own accessories and clothes and fucking shit up and looking trashy but alluring to other people like me. even when i went through my fem diva phase i exclusively thrifted vintage clothes to embody a 60 year old diva i didnt spend hundreds of dollars to look good?? My 90s thrifted furcoat ive worn for 7 years cost me 10 bucks.

As for middle class or poor gays that are in debt that keep going in debt to allow themselves the luxuries that they see gays with (their parents) money can allow themselves, i feel like its a very complex social dynamic that isnt easily explained by poor prople are allowed nice things or everyone deserves luxuries. And its harmful however its explained because very often the sentiment from middle class gays in regards to overspending obfuscates what a luxury is, not a few times have i heard from gays with debt "if i had the money i would take a private jet everywhere i wouldnt give a single fuck if i had access to things that rich people had I would use them just the same or more"

Class division is really like that tho, id compare it to how middle class suburbians dont want better public transport and shut any finances that go into it cus they dont want poor "suspicious" people coming to their neighborhoods. And that shut down of public transport only hurts them and their community but they do it anyway. Ill say it outright most middle class gays in debt that do everything to spend money to live a fantasy of not being in the same social class as poor gays are doing so intentionally.

#again im just some insane immigrant babbling but the way you described that type of people felt closer to my perception of them? #like theyd do anything not to be socially or technologically behind. they must be the epitome of beauty no matter what it costs #therefore expensive gyms and diets and cleanses that dont work and laser and chemical peels and scar removal white teeth etc etc etc

[tomasens]

Your thoughts on Fanfik the movie make me wonder what exactly is going on in the book(s?), lol sadly I don't speak polish. I've read some reviews saying the plot was rushed and simplified, but none quite so negative

Hi!! The English post about Fanfik was a jokey parody of a Will Wood post (I assume that's the post you saw!!) haha, my thoughts are still negative but not that... Dramatic ahahah, thank you for asking though and I'll try to explain my biggest gripes with the movie in a (hopefully) comprehensive way since it's 1 am here and I am Big Tired (finals season is starting this week and I am struggling ahhh)

I will discuss only the first book since the movie is only based on it btw‼️

I wanted to like this movie so bad, especially that Fanfik was a book that made me realize that I am not cis myself. I had very high hopes for the movie, especially that they hired a trans actor to play Tosiek! Like! Woah! But of course it couldn't have been good because FUCK YOU JULEK, YOU'RE DOOMED TO NEVER GET GOOD ADAPTATIONS OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS!

My biggest issue is that the movie GREATLY oversimplified the social commentary of the book. It involves a regular, dingy polish highschool that is basically a symbolic miniature of the polish public and its largely homophobic and otherwise generally xenophobic tendencies. The movie takes that idea and throws it out the window completely, making the school a lovely, clean and shiny private school (i don't remember if it's stated it's a private school but you can definitely TELL. No polish public highschool is like this. Trust me. And even if there are public schools like that, they're well funded and still don't deal with the same problems as regular schools do). Not only that, but the story's setting (for some unknown reason?? Genuinely I don't understand this choice) is changed from Poznań to the capital, Warszawa and I really hate that since Poznań is a symbol of the more progressive parts of Poland and using it as the setting furthered the ideas about how even the progressive parts of our (polish) society still need work. It could be me looking to deeply into the symbolism though - even then, I don't understand the change. Also, Leon lives in an extremely nice place - in the book his place was, again, dingy, cramped, he was barely getting by in general. These weird choices destroy the mature social commentary the book has to offer and it sucks! :/

Another big issue are the HORRIBLE writing choices and the oversimplification of every. Fucking. Character. I do not have the energy to discuss everyone, so I'll just focus on Tosiek and Leon, plus their relationship.

Tosiek. Oh god. He is not complicated and interesting like in the book, he's a douche. His drug habits are mentioned but quickly forgotten, the fanfic writing aspect is generally abandoned for most of the movie, his character is mean and dicky but because the movie refuses to give him actual problems he looks like a spoiled, whining rich kid. His only problem seems to be his relationship with his father but it isn't explored well enough for the audience to sympathize or at least understand Tosiek's stance. His transness is also flattened, like, to the point that it's comedic to me. I know some people did just. Put on boy clothes once and were like "oh I'm a guy cool" but if we're adapting a story of a character who is definitely NOT like that... Maybe we shouldn't present his trans journey as that simple.

Leon. Oh GOD. Leon is also a douche and that HURTS. He doesn't really face any meaningful consequences for wanting to use Tosiek as a beard when the dude was still girlmoding without telling him (asshole move btw. Like bro had no actual reason to do that he was just being a dick), he generally doesn't face any consequences, his character is boring, and when it's not boring it's rage inducing because like. Tosiek is a fucking asshole but I don't think movie Leon deserves even that guy. He's not a flawed person, he's one dimensional with a bunch of holes in him. Also please stop teaching ur boyfriend how to burp i am eating /j

Their relationship becomes the core of the story which is awful - the book focuses on Tosiek slowly coming to terms with his gender identity, on him trying to find new ways to cope, with him discovering things about his past (shown to him not by his father like in the movie but by the greatest character of all, his aunt, who was cut for... Time's sake I guess? Which is such a big fucking loss), with him learning to love himself. His relationship with Leon is slow, they're friends at first, they slowly, gradually develop feelings for each other, but Tosiek's feelings for Leon are only an excuse for the narrative to study his relationship with gender even more. Their attraction is shown at first by touches, by brushes of hands, not by KISSING. 20 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. Sorry I cannot get over it, 20 MINUTES INTO THE MOVIE. and 25 minutes into the movie Tosiek is sure of his gender identity completely and never questions it ever again because it would get in the way of The Cute Gay Romance. Like, the movie could be about Tosiek being a cis gay dude and experiencing homophobia and it would still make sense without changing barley anything - that's not a good trans story in general, but especially if you have such great, introspective source material ffs!

In conclusion, the movie got Netflix'd and Americanized - everything about it is devoid of the inherent polish...ness that was present in the book, the movie truly could've been written about some guy in Connecticut and it would be THE EXACT SAME, which sucks since polish queers are awesome and should have our stories properly shown. And also it feels like it was written for cis people, while the book definitely knows that it's target audience is trans people and shows love to them in many ways.

Keep in mind that I haven't read the book in a while and I might be mixing details up - I was already planning to reread the book carefully and make a post explaining how the movie fucked it up big time after my finals, I'll make sure to translate it into English so keep an eye out for that in the summer!

Thanks again for asking and reading anon! Cheers<33

(Also Tosiek is a nerd and it's a CRIME there wasn't at least one Hamilton reference because OH BOY do I remember being excited reading a Hamilton reference in one of the books when I was younger and still in my theatre kid who cannot sing act or dance era.)

#askowańsko #an hour well spent. fanfic movie slander is a hobby of mine #i tried to spellcheck and proofread but if something needs clarification let me know ❤️ #i forgot to add but the unrealistic bullying takes me OUT. ssij jaja transie (suck balls t-slur) will forever be in my vocab. who wrote this

[phantomato]

I like a setting with character. Not a fantastical one, necessarily—the real world has plenty of character, and magical settings can be written to leave little impression. The HP universe has a great deal of character, but so does 20th c. Britain. Both are exciting to me, and I love to read and write them as leads in the story.

See, the thing about the original HP books is that they don’t do a compelling job of tying these two together. Our heroes and our main villains are both magical. The magical world operates its own governments and public utilities and private businesses and schools. Muggle-raised children don’t talk much about their Muggle families once they start school; magical people who marry Muggles (not Muggleborns—Muggles) tend to fall off the wagon and be left out of magical society, as far as we’re told. The interest is all in magic.

Which leaves us in a sort of strange spot, with respect to Muggles, because some of the strongest connections we have to Muggles are, well, villainous. The Dursleys—villains. Severus Snape’s father—abusive Muggle, and Snape’s a Death Eater. Tom Riddle’s father—probably abused, and Tom’s the big bad. There are more Muggles, like the people Tom knew at Wool’s, Hermione’s parents (absent and then obliviated), vague mentions of others, etc. Most of our representation of the Muggle world suggests we should dismiss it.

And that’s what most HP fic does, fairly enough. There’s lots of thoughtful takes on the structures and norms and idiosyncrasies of the magical world.

It’s just that I like 20th c. Britain, and I like the question of what it might be like to be tied to both of these places. I started down this path with Snape, his childhood in Cokeworth and what it might mean to him to have kept his family home there throughout his life. Clearly, living in a Muggle neighborhood is not disqualifying for membership in the Death Eaters, going by him and Regulus Black. So when my focus shifted to Tom, well—Tom’s got a Muggle parent, is raised Muggle, and lives for many years in London as both a child and an adult. I know he’s Lord Voldemort, yes, but… why couldn’t he keep some ties to that part of his heritage?

I like setting with character, and mid-century London has so much of it to offer. Much has been made of how Tom might have experienced the war years, but the recovery from the war took just as long. The last of WWII-era rationing ended in 1954, well into his adulthood. I wonder how the magical world fared in comparison to that. The landscape of urban housing also radically changed after the war years—was there council housing put up in Knockturn? I like to think about how Tom might have been affected by the arts and culture of the era, reading Tolkein and getting a kick out of a Muggle version of fantasy or watching The Third Man and agreeing with Harry Lime about the inconsequentiality of human life.

He’s magical, right, but he still lives in the city. I can’t see anyone spending all of their life on two streets. Getting out more means, well, interacting with Muggles.

And shouldn’t he? As much as Tom might resent his childhood, it’s a world he knows, versus one in which he’s marked as an outsider. There might be relief in no one reacting to his name. Perhaps he even keeps up with some of his fellows from Wool’s, or Mrs. Cole—unhappy relationships can still feel like family. Perhaps he cottages during they heyday of cottaging, because there’s anonymity for sordid sex outside of the magical world, or maybe he likes a pub with a football match on the wireless. Perhaps the right magical friend is even invited along.

I’ve seen lots of acceptance of the idea that Lord Voldemort’s platform could be one of circumstance and opportunity, that blood purity is not his personal agenda. I think that’s exciting, something that adds breadth to the realm of how he’s written.

I like setting with character, and Tom is born of two of them. His story sits at the tension between the Muggle and magical worlds, and the difficulty of reconciling them to one another. We’ve seen so many takes where Voldemort tips fully into magic; what about when he can’t let go of the parts of himself that are Muggle?

#long post #tom riddle #voldemort #muggle

[d1rect0r]

#d1rect0r; cressida vipointe. capitol-born and raised. ever dedicated to the art and technical aspects of storytelling in its visual form. ever determined to walk the path of her own choosing instead of conforming to society's norms. a rp blog affiliated with pyrrhicvictoryhq. adored by hanna ( 26, gmt+2, she/her ). pinterest. playlist. tags. click 'read more' for a temporary bio / more character info !

APPLICATION INFO.

( davika hoorne | 25 | cis woman | she/her ) oh that? that’s cressida vipointe, silly, from right here in our lovely capitol! last i heard, they’re working as a film director and my, they’re just brilliant at what they do. people around the city say they’re rather fearless, determined and private, and i personally found they remind of me of lights! camera! action!, let's have a toast to the girl almighty, living your own truth no matter what, and blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb when we spoke. what the public doesn’t know is that they’re a part of plutarch heavensbee’s rebellion, but those things can’t be said out loud.

BACKSTORY.

even though your girl will absolutely refuse to talk about it & will only admit it through gritted teeth, cressida comes from a place of serious privilege. her mother used to be a stylist in the capitol who rose through the ranks to first become a stylist for one of the career districts and then rose even further; nowadays she's involved in assigning prep teams and stylists for districts. her father, on the other hand, is a plastic surgeon renowned for tackling even the most challenging transformation wishes and executing them with no flaws.

so, through her family background, cressida had all the makings to lead a comfortable and luxurious life in the capitol. a networking socialite with a side of modelling, acting and perhaps fashion designing could've been her future — that's what most children within her social circles aspired toward.

cressida, however, refused to follow that lifepath, even as a young child. she didn't throw tantrums or other displays of aggression to showcase her opinion of the society around her. she simply said "no thank you <3", turned her back and continued doing whatever interested her in that moment. she showed no interest in any of the typical capitol activities (e.g. body modification, outrageous fashion, cheering for the games) and no amount of begging, threatening or anything worked on changing the young girl's mind. this behaviour was a source of great deal of stress for both of parents who wanted nothing more than to keep up their image as the perfect capitolites.

as a teenager, cressida began to express a keen interest in all things film-making. a complex form of art with many technicalities to consider? an opportunity to tell stories, to give a platform for voices that may otherwise go unheard? sign her up!

coincidentally, this interest was such a relief for her parents too, even if they misunderstood her reasons for getting involved in that field. in their eyes, it was a media-sexy profession that could further cement the vipointes' status as one of the top families in the capitol. as a result, they bought cressida the finest cameras, enrolled her in whatever appropriate course caught her interest, and even introduced her to all the big industry heavyweights. furthermore, they eagerly financed her college-level education when she expressed interest in studying at one of the capitol's finest film schools.

even though cressida knew she should've been thankful for all the opportunities she was provided, most of them left a sour taste in her mouth. she wanted to earn her success through her own merits; she could not, in good conscience, call achievements her own if her parents had bought or otherwise organized them. basically, your girl resented the fact that she's a nepo baby because she wants to be known for her own talent, not her last name.

nevertheless, she utilized what she had been given. she graduated as one of the best in her class and, immediately afterwards, managed to land a film assistant position to a renowned film director. cressida completed whatever task was required of her, further immersed herself in the world of film and media, and honed her craft for four years — right up until the present moment.

present moment has cressida in what is perhaps the most pivotal moment of her career. it's her first year as the film director, as the one in charge of her camera crew (i'm thinking messalla, castor and pollux; could be others too!) and the work they put out. furthermore, their current project involves producing a documentary about the lives of mentors and victors during the games — an inside look for curious capitolites on what the daily lives of these famed figures look like. the success of this project is important for the up-and-coming director's career, but it's a challenge she'll tackle with fearlessness and professionalism she's handled everything else in her career so far.

MISCELLANEOUS HEADCANONS (will be updated).

ON BIRTHDAY. your girl was born on july 20, during the 46th hunger games. yes, she'll be turning 26 soon, but don't mention it to her. she doesn't like celebrating her birthdays and will pretend it's just another normal day.

ON REBELLION. cressida is obviously on the side of the rebellion, though her involvement in the present moment remains somewhat limited. she's playing her part inside the capitol, utilizing her network of contacts and forwarding information to plutarch on who might be a useful ally.

ON FASHION. cressida's style, in its normality, stands out among the capitol's eccentric fashion choices. practicality and comfort are her priorities, not following the latest trends. this has garnered her a small number of followers who actually prefer her style, but she refuses to consider herself any sort of influencer / trendsetter. besides, most of the capitol's elite still sigh at her understated clothing choices.

ON HAIRSTYLE & TATTOO. generally, my cressida's hairstyle and tattoo are similar to what cressida had in the mockingjay movies. the left side of her head is shaved; vine tattoos cover that side of her head, extend down her neck and even further down her arm, right down to her wrist. the major difference is that my cressida's hair is little longer and, instead of blonde, it's black ( like my faceclaim's ).

ON BODY MODIFICATION. the capitol residents are notorious for their body modification procedures. cressida, however, once again hasn't conformed to that societal norm. the only body modification she has is her tattoo; she has no plans to get anything else done.

ON ROMANTIC & SEXUAL ORIENTATION. bi-bi-bi. that's all.

#dossier.

[christinepanas]

Legacy

(A short fiction story)

“Do you want to take a spin in it?” Duncan asks Mallory as they stand in the parking lot of the high school, itself almost as newly minted as her driving license. Mallory doesn’t answer. She just stares at the shiny red sports car with the brown leather seats and chrome wheels. Her shoulders hunch forward, as if the added weight of her license makes her backpack too much to bear. She hesitates.

“I have to get home,” she says.

“But aren’t your parents away?” Duncan asks, opening the driver’s side door.

“Yes,” she says.

“What’s the hurry home?”

“I have chores.”

“I can drive you.”

“That’s okay. I always walk.”

“It might rain. I’ll drive you,” he presses.

He points with his eyes to a heavy grey cloud that has arisen in the distance. Mallory gives in and walks to the passenger door. The interior of the car is finished with wood. She runs her fingers along the elegant dashboard as he starts the engine. The aroma of the new leather seats reminds her of a pair of gloves her mother once had. They had been expensive. When she lost one of them, its mate lingered in her handbag, until one day it too disappeared.

“Waddya think?” Duncan asks.

She sits mute, watching as the sunroof silently opens to reveal the blue band of heaven high above them. A puffy, angelic cloud floats into the frame, and then disappears. She buckles her seat belt and folds her hands in her lap.

“Ready?” he asks, then puts the car in reverse and backs out of the parking spot.

Mallory knows that her parents wouldn’t approve of her taking a ride home alone with Duncan. They are strict, especially now that she attends public school. They can no longer afford private school tuition. Most of her parents’ money and time now goes to the Rhys Owens Foundation and the Living God in Christ Pentecostal Church. But it doesn’t matter. She likes public school. It is noisy and colorful and filled with smells and sounds and voices that she otherwise would never have experienced.

The town is small. Many people know Mallory’s father from when he coached Little League. Duncan played on one of the teams. Everyone knows Duncan’s father because he owns one of the two banks in town. He bought Duncan this car for graduation. Lots of kids get cars for graduation and then they go off to college. Both she and Duncan will be graduating next month. Duncan will attend the same university as his father and grandfather and will one day take over the bank. Mallory’s parents have been too busy to help her with college applications to the Christian colleges they have chosen for her. Summer is coming and this year she will be running the Bible Camp. She can’t think beyond that.

“So, have you driven on the highway yet, I mean, besides for driver’s ed?” Duncan asks.

“Not really,” she replies. “Just to church and back. Around town for shopping. Once out to Table Rock lake.”

She is not all that keen on driving but there is no other way to get around. Some kids ride bicycles to school. A horse. She would be happier with a horse, she thinks. Once, Jonelle Williams rode her horse to school. It was a big deal.

“Do you want me to put on the A/C?” Duncan asks. She shakes her head.

He’s not a bad person, she thinks. He is polite and well groomed. She has never heard him swear or raise his voice in anger. But she only sees him in class or at the football games on Friday nights. Sometimes, he sits with her and her parents, but not all the time. He has lots of friends.

Once, her mother told her to invite Duncan to church. She didn’t. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to come to church. It was that she knew her parents would never condone her attending a Presbyterian service. It didn’t seem right that the invitation could never be reciprocated.

“So, where are your parents?” he asks.

“Dallas again,” she says. “Something for the Foundation.”

“You wanna listen to some music?” he asks.

“No,” she replies. “That’s okay.”

The drive home from the school is no more than five minutes, but they manage to pass by everyone in town who can and will report to her parents that they saw her in Duncan Wilson’s car after school.

As they pull into the driveway, a few drops of rain clink against the windshield. Duncan closes the sunroof. She sits watching as it shuts itself against the darkening sky.

“Do you wanna come in for a minute?” she asks.

“Sure,” he says. “As long as it is okay with your parents.”

She knows that it is not okay, but she tells him that it is. Old Mrs. Barnes from next door is no doubt watching them now, she thinks. She imagines walking over there and ringing the bell and giving Mrs. Barnes the name of the hotel where her parents are staying and then telling her to go ahead and call them. But she knows she won’t. She looks down at the ground as she counts the steps to the porch. Twelve today.

The house is large and is relatively new. Her parents built it when she and her sister were still attending the Christian Children’s Academy. Each time she opens the heavy front door, the first thing she sees is the memorial. The memorial honors her sister, Rhys. It occupies the wall that separates the foyer from the kitchen. In the center of that wall is a large photo of Rhys. In it, she looks over her shoulder at the camera, her smile bright and wide. Rhys smiled like a movie star. Everyone said it. The portrait is surrounded by seventeen smaller photos of Rhys, one for each year of her life. Below these photos is a table weighed down by ribbons and trophies and awards.

“Here’s the shrine,” she says. “The wall of memories.”

Duncan stares at the display for a few seconds and then gives her an uncomfortable smile.

Moving around the wall, she leads Duncan into the kitchen. He takes a seat on one of the four stools stowed under the kitchen counter.

“Do you want a glass of iced tea?” she asks.

“Sure,” he says.

“It’s sweet tea.”

“Okay.”

She pours him a glass and tells him she’ll be right back. Her intention is to go to her room and change into her cleaning clothes, but she finds herself moving down the hallway, counting the steps to Rhys’ room. It is spacious - almost as large as her parents’ bedroom. The carpet is pink. The canopy bed has twinkle lights. She turns them on and then looks around. This room, indeed, the whole house, seems to be waiting, as if Rhys will be back any moment. All her things are here, almost exactly as she left them. Her mother dusts and vacuums the room and washes the bed covers every week.

Mallory slips off her shoes and climbs onto the bed, staring up at the canopy. When she was ten, she was so jealous of this bed. It was like something for a princess, magical. Now, she feels nothing.

“Hey, where are you?” Duncan calls out.

“In here,” she replies.

Duncan follows her voice and finds her there, on the bed.

“What’re you doing?” he asks.

“I’m not allowed to be in here,” she says. “But it’s not like I don’t miss her, too.”

She glances at a large photo that occupies a space where once there was a poster of a blonde Jesus praying, his blue eyes cast upwards towards heaven. Now, from under a tiara, Rhys the beauty pageant contestant smiles through the glass of a bejeweled frame.

“She was my parents’ pride and joy,” Mallory says.

Duncan is silent. She looks up at him. He is staring at the photo.

“My mother still cries every day,” she says.

It has been five years since Rhys died. And every day, Mallory’s parents grieve as if they have just received the news. She remembers that day, too. She was there, sitting on the sofa as two state troopers gave them the news. Her mother began to wail. Her father held his head in his hands. The troopers apologized as if they had been responsible.

“Our house is sad now,” she says.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me, too.”

“I better go,” he says.

She follows him outside to the car. As he opens the door, she stops him.

“I’d like to take you up on that drive,” she says.

“Okay,” he replies. “After supper?”

“Can you pick me up?”

“As long as it’s okay with your parents,” he says.

“I’ll call them.”

He agrees to pick her up at seven.

Inside, Mallory wanders the spotless house. She finds herself moving in numbered steps to Rhys’ room. Rhys’ baby shoes sit on the dresser. They are white leather with pink laces. She picks them up and sniffs at them, at the faint odor of leather and talcum. She opens the dresser drawers and stares at Rhys’ clothing. In one drawer are baby clothes, fancy little dresses and frilly little socks. In another drawer are pretty pajamas and little panties with the days of the week printed on them. In another are sets of shorts and t-shirts, and in another, socks and jeans. She takes out a pair of jeans and holds them next to her. They are too long. Rhys was tall and thin. She is not.

In the walk-in closet she finds Rhys’ Barbie doll house and the Barbies and their clothes. Dozens. They wear gowns, like the ones hanging in the closet. She feels strange and sits down. Everything sparkles. She picks up a Barbie, examines it, then pulls off its head. She does the same to the rest. Then the arms. Then the legs. She abandons their corpses in the bottom of the closet, leaving the door open and the lights on. She counts the steps as she moves down the hall to her parents’ room, her mind blank, her hands and feet numb.

The dressers in her parents’ bedroom sprout dozens of photos. Most are of Rhys. There are a few of Mallory. In one of them, she is ten, standing next to Rhys, who is fifteen and the recipient of a trophy. They are both smiling and holding hands. She feels an ache in her chest. She loved Rhys, too. They had been so close. The emptiness she feels has no words. Rhys was special. She was thoughtful and she loved Mallory and always knew how to make her feel special, too. Rhys never excluded her and always told her that she would grow up to be beautiful and talented. But that didn’t happen.

One by one, she relieves the frames of their photos. She rips the photos into strips as she goes, leaving them in the middle of her parents’ bed. She looks again at the photo of her and Rhys and slips it into her back pocket.

In the living room, more photos of Rhys with various family members smile into the emptiness of the house. These she has dusted every day for five years. A strange rage seizes her, and she begins hurling them into the fireplace, one by one, frame and all. All of the photos. All of the family. All of them, together in the fireplace. She stands there, holding the last one in her hands.

The last thing that Rhys had said to her was, “I’m sorry, honeydew, but you can’t come with me this time. I promise I’ll take you to the lake tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.” But she didn’t come back.

Mallory wanders into her own room and digs with anger through her crafting supplies until she finds a Sharpie. She blacks out the eyes and mouths of all her photos, even the ones in her yearbooks. She dumps the contents of her memento boxes onto the bed and finds the necklace that Rhys gave her for her twelfth birthday - a silver chain with a delicate crystal cross. She puts it around her neck and resumes wandering the house, counting the steps as she tries to remember the sound of Rhys’ voice.

Now, standing before the memorial, she stares at Rhys’ forever blue eyes. Her arms hang at her sides. She stands there, frozen in place until the sound of the doorbell startles her. Duncan is back. She can’t believe it’s seven already. He has changed clothes.

“I’ll be right out,” she says, and closes the door, leaving him on the porch.

She takes off her blouse and replaces it with one of her sister’s t-shirts. It is dark purple. Fancy white letters spell out “Be the Light Matthew 5:14.” The words are surrounded by delicate flowers and vines. She brushes her hair with Rhys’ hairbrush and puts on a pair of Rhys’ earrings and applies some of Rhys’ lipstick. She leaves the house, not bothering to lock the door.

“Where do you want to go?” Duncan asks.

She has no ideas but manages to smile. They end up in the parking lot of the county electric cooperative, where a group of Duncan’s friends have gathered in their cars. They all admire his new red BMW and start asking him technical questions. Duncan is polite and introduces her, and they say hello, to be polite, she thinks. She says hello back.

“The sound system is great,” Duncan is telling everyone, and turns up the radio.

She gets out of the car and wanders the parking lot while Duncan shows everyone something in the trunk. The sun will be setting soon. She is supposed to call her parents at eight. They want to know that she is not doing something she shouldn’t. She never does. She is a good, dutiful daughter. She does all her chores and never complains. She tends to their daily needs. But they don’t see her. She is not their beloved Rhys, to whom they always devoted their lives. Even now. Rhys is still their entire life, even though she’s gone. What they have left is Mallory, the one who isn’t their golden girl or shining light. Mallory knows that she is just ordinary. She will never be Rhys. And no one will ever love her like Rhys loved her. She aches for that love.

Overhead, the sky is bright. There is a slight breeze. Duncan and his friends have moved on and are now looking at the engine of someone’s giant pickup truck. She doesn’t know most of these boys. She doesn’t want to.

She picks a few flowers that are growing alongside the road. They are purple, Rhys’ favorite color. She remembers being in awe of Rhys, tagging along after her and intruding on her and her friends. Rhys never complained and would pick her up and hug her and kiss her. Rhys would hug her to sleep when she was sad. Now the sad never leaves.

Mallory admires the flowers, then drops them on the ground next to Duncan’s car. The boys are now revving up the truck’s motor and laughing and whoo-hooing. It is noisy. She takes the opportunity to slip into the driver’s seat of Duncan’s car. The music is so loud it almost hurts. And then, she watches herself start the car and put it in gear, as if she is someone else, someone now tearing out of the parking lot in Duncan’s red car.

Her hands feel strange, gripping the wheel. Her heart pumps. She speeds towards Eagle Ridge, to that bend in the twisting road, where the cross stands, decorated with silk flowers. Rhys had been with her friends that day. She had been driving the brand-new car that her parents gave her for graduation. A shiny red convertible. Five years ago, almost to the day. She was late. Speeding to get home. She lost control. Too fast, the state troopers said. She had been going too fast and lost control. The car hit the rock wall. She died instantly, they said. Her friends survived. The rock wall saved them from plunging over the cliff.

The tragedy had brought the whole town together, everyone said. They had all loved Rhys. Hundreds and hundreds of people came to the funeral. They cried and hugged her parents as Mallory stood there off to the side and invisible, listening to all the condolences. Everyone kept saying, “what a tragedy. Such a beautiful young girl.”

Such a beautiful girl. Our princess. The light of our lives. Such a treasure. A real talent. How lucky you were to have those years with her. She’s with her father in heaven now. Jesus had called her home, they all said. And Mallory stood there alone, watching her mother’s lips move as she thanked everyone. And then later, after the kitchen had been piled high with baked goods and casseroles and platters of fried chicken, her parents wept and held each other as she watched, uninvited, her grief silenced as she went about her chores.

Behind her, Mallory hears police sirens. More than one. She imagines three or four police cars are following her. She imagines that in one of the cars are the same troopers who stood in the living room and told them that Rhys was dead.

She hits the gas. The curve is coming up. She knows it well. They drive up here every Sunday after church to tend the cross and honor her sister’s memory. Now, she can see it, the rock wall, and next to it the opening in the ridge that leads to the valley below. She veers toward the opening, looking up through the sunroof at the blue band of heaven above, ready to join Rhys there.

#fiction #short story

[popentertainment-interviews]

Michael Carbonaro

Making Comic Book Magic Through the Eyes of the Impresario of The Big Apple Con

by Brad Balfour 

Boy, it's hard to keep track of comic book impresario Mike Carbonaro. Maybe he can sit still for a two-hour movie – or so – such as the 93-minute The Night At The Opera, a film as fast paced and crazy-quilt as Carbo himself. He's a Maven of media, especially that which involves superheroes and costumed characters. Now in his mid-60s, this NY-accented character may not be costumed but he is heroic, a rescuer of our pop culture. And he's profiting from it.

At least once, maybe twice a year, Carbo holds the Big Apple Comic Con in the New Yorker Hotel. On Saturday, December 17th, is Christmas Con, then a co-sponsored Trading Card Con on Sunday. And next year, there's the extended March 2023 edition. 

If the New York Comic Con is like a glittery version of a Comic-Con, maybe the Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen of cons, then the Big Apple Comic Con is a punk rock equivalent – kind of like The New York Dolls versus The Rolling Stones. It's hard-core for real lovers of the books, their artists and fans. Oh, it has its share of media stars, panels, signings/photo booths and an artist alley but it's really for the basic collector.

A very active collector and buyer of comics, discs, and pop culture memorabilia, Carbo's comic book story began as a young boy who would use his toy dump truck to roll his comics into a treasure chest covered with Superman wallpaper. Over 40 years later, he's still rolling along and buying comics – only now it's in a white SUV, sometimes having woken up in the middle of the night to spend $20k on comics. 

In the '70s, Carbo attended almost every comic book and collectible convention in the NYC area. He paid his way through private school and college with money made by dealing comic books. In the '80s he opened a comic book store in Forest Hills, Queens, NY, which he ran for more than a decade.

Then, ever restless in the 1990s, he launched a new venture – the Big Apple Convention. Over the years, he's run over 75 comic cons locally. Over the course of its history, the convention has been known as the Big Apple Convention, the Big Apple Comic Book, Art and Toy Show, and the Big Apple Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo. Larger three-day November shows were known as the National Comic Book, Art, Toy and Sci-Fi Expo and the National Comic Book, Comic Art, and Fantasy Convention. In 2014, the name "Big Apple Convention " was revived by Carbonaro for the March 2015 show. He's sold and then reacquired it. But whenever and wherever he did, Carbo was its ringmaster.

In 2000, the bushy-haired dynamo also kicked off a career as a Senior Buyer for Neat Stuff Collectibles. He spent millions of dollars buying comic books and collectibles during his tenure. Then, Carbonaro helped Dave & Adam's Card World build their comic books business. He's always gearing up to spend billions on every collectible imaginable – comic books, pulp, toys, and sports cards and artwork. Whatever you've got, Carbo will buy it!

In typical Carbo fashion, when we met up, he was in a whirlwind. "Get down here to the public library near the Lions. I'm coming from my accountants, meeting a long-time collector and then you. And I'll be off again."

Michael Carbonaro: This is the most beautiful spot — the Chrysler building right there — 42nd Street, Fifth Avenue, New York Library, and my friend, Arnie Sheinman.

What are your memories of comics and the library? Michael Carbonaro: You know what? I actually want to build a comic book library. This is not it. But I do enjoy the 42nd Street Library when I'm here. But the reason I'm here is my accountant – who is also Arnie's accountant, at least for this year, and is across the street.   I imagine your accountant has a lot of work to do.   Michael Carbonaro: You mean when it comes to me? Well, yes, he's kept things honest and stable for the last 20 years.   You're always running around with all that cash to buy comics. How do you keep track of it all?   Michael Carbonaro: I don't know. The comics keep track of themselves. But Arnie and I were doing business way back, starting in the earliest days. But you were doing business before me, at the comics shows. We were just talking about this new movie, the Shazam! movie, the Black Adam, which is okay. But remember Captain Marvel? There was a time when the Captain Marvels were the X‑Men — when everyone wanted to have Captain Marvels, this whole period. But Marvel Family No. 1, which is now $1,000 to $20,000, nobody cared that much about Marvel Family No. 1 — 25 dollars, maybe 50 dollars, a hundred bucks, would have been a lot for that. Tons of those all the time. Anyhow, it's amazing what the movies will do for the awareness, value of a comic book.   Do the movies make you more motivated about a particular comic book?   Michael Carbonaro: Not personally, but from a fiduciary point of view, yes. It makes me want to buy more because everyone wants them, and the value goes up. Then it goes down, as the movie does well or worse, depending. So yeah, it motivates me a little bit to do it.   So you weren't motivated by Black Adam?   Michael Carbonaro: The comics themselves motivate me.   And Black Adam didn't do it for you?   Michael Carbonaro: It was okay. What can I say?   How about the comic? Shazam No. 26?   Michael Carbonaro: Shazam No. 26? That's another book from the 70s. You can buy it in the dollar bins all of a sudden, the dime bins.   Now you're talking about the Golden Age ones?   Michael Carbonaro: No, no, this is the 1970s appearance of Black Adam – the Shazam one. But then there's Marvel Family.   Arnie Sheinman: So worthless.   Michael Carbonaro: What about Marvel Family No. 1? Didn't that have something in it too?   Arnie Sheinman: No, I'm talking about the Silver [Age] one.   Michael Carbonaro: Right, right. That's what Shazam was – kind of silvery.   Arnie Sheinman: That's the Marvel stories.   Michael Carbonaro: Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about. The 1940s kept Marvel Family as well as the Shazam ones from the '70s.   Did it ever confuse anybody about, there's Marvel’s Captain Marvel, there's a DC Captain Marvel and then there's Shazam, and then there's...   Michael Carbonaro: Yeah. Well, that's the whole thing of a lawsuit with that. I think it's interesting. Marvel – I believe DC actually stopped, or paid off, Fawcett [Press] to stop printing Captain Marvel. Then, later on in the Seventies, Marvel bought the rights to it, or owned the rights somehow, and then created [their own Captain Marvel] and [DC’s version] became Captain Marvel themselves, calling it Shazam.        Arnie Sheinman: They named Marvel "Captain Marvel." It was Captain Mar-VEL.   Michael Carbonaro: Right, right. And then Marvel Comics created a Captain MAR-vel character in the '60s. So it was...   Then it was [morphed] into a woman?   Michael Carbonaro: I believe that's correct, right. Oh, I remember when I had my comics store, that was actually the first graphic novel that really did amazing [business]. We had to keep reordering it, the first printing and the second printing. I had my comic books store in the 1980s – I guess that's '83-'84, when "The Death of Captain Marvel" came out. That graphic was six bucks, and it was great. That's like selling six comic books. So I was making three dollars on every six‑dollar sale. I kept reordering that graphic novel and reordering it.   And that's at the retail rate, right?   Michael Carbonaro: Yeah. That was at my comic books store in Forest Hills – Continental Comics in the '80s. I had just moved back again to Forest Hills, and the guy whose house I moved into and I invested a little, and I'm paying him rent – is one of the kids that used to buy comic books from me in the 1980s. In a $2.2 million house in the Forest Hills Gardens.   So you're in Forest Hills now?   Michael Carbonaro: I'm back.   Is there a difference between the Queens comic book fan versus the Manhattan comic book fan?   Michael Carbonaro: Absolutely not. Everyone likes comic books, it's all equal. We all love them the same. It doesn't matter where you live or where you are. Comic books are equal. Now some people are a little more crazy about the way they love their comics and how they love their comics, but nevertheless we are all equal lovers of comic books. Whether we buy them, sell them, or whatever, right? 

Now that you're back living in Queens, have you ever thought to set up your house in such a way that it becomes a comic book haven?   Michael Carbonaro: Oh no, no, no, I already have a warehouse, and a basement. Actually the reason I bought it is because of the whole garage and basement of the house, I am turning into a business and an office and all that. And for my Big Apple Comic Book Convention, which is coming up this month. And Christmas.   

BACC is not a corporate show – it's a collectors show. It's not 100,000 people, it's 10,000 people. But we bring celebrities, we bring artists; if you come to the show, you can move around and breathe easily, you can get to see everybody; you can do your comic book business, and that's what I like about it. It's a fun experience. It's real social media with other collectors. That's the thing, you walk into a comic book convention, or you collect comic books, regardless of race, color, creed, anything, you have that common interest. That's something I learned as a kid buying and selling comics, the melting pot of comic books has been a very positive experience for me in my life. 

So Arnie, you told a few stories of me in the past, and one of these is amusing. I would like to negotiate when I buy something, and you mentioned that I negotiated with you and I left the difference on the floor when we did it?

Arnie Sheinman: A little kid used to come over and pay me in change, and he left more change on the table than he spent.   Did he have any valuable change?   Arnie Sheinman: No, just nickels and dimes. But to an 11-year-old...   Michael Carbonaro: But buying comic books back then was pretty cool.   Then you were an 11-year-old...   Michael Carbonaro: No, I was 12 or 13. This is 1970.   So you're 12 or 13. Why is it comics and not something else you collect? Although you do collect a lot of other things, do you?   Michael Carbonaro: No, comics were it. Because I liked collecting comics when I was a kid, I enjoyed it, and comics were – it was something easy to figure out. I liked the numbering system. I liked buying them. I liked seeing them. I liked that Marvel Comics were exciting.

The comic book business is a 24-hour business and when the comics come out, people want to sell them when they want to sell them. And I've had guys I've known since I was 12 years old. So all of these years I've been collecting, and I've had guys I've known all their lives, guys 45 years old, "I'll never sell, I'll never sell." All of a sudden, in the middle of the night they'll call me and go, "Okay. I'm ready to sell." And if I don't answer that bell that day, they'll find someone else to buy it. That's the cool thing about the comic business, it's very liquid. If you need money, you want to sell something right away, you don't have to deal through any brokers. You have to be ready to go. For me, the middle of the night and doing the deal is my life. It was the best dream I could have had, and it came true.  �� Coins and stamps were dull. My dad collected coins and stamps. He taught me how to collect things, and I liked postcards as well. I collected postcards – Coney Island. I won first prize for my Coney Island collection. That was pretty cool. But Coney Island is, you know, the old Luna Park and Dreamland, and all that, that's all gone now.   Did you go out to Coney Island?   Michael Carbonaro: Yeah, I used to make my mom take me. But it wasn't the same in the '60s.   How was the Mermaid Parade for you?   Michael Carbonaro: Didn't get to that one. That was way back. This was the '70s. But I'm flying out to buy a comic book collection in Florida next week, and I'm probably not even going to see Disney [World]. For me, the comic book collection is Disneyland. New York City has been my home. I've fallen off the roof at Studio 54 [and] I had a comic book store in Jackson Heights. I like the fact that I run the Big Apple Comic Con in New York City. It makes me feel good that I'm a part of New York and I've done something fun here.

www.bigapplecc.com 

Copyright ©2022 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 13, 2022.

Photo ©2022 Brad Balfour. All rights reserved.

Logo ©2022. Courtesy of Big Apple Comic Con. All rights reserved.

#Michael Carbonaro #2022 #Big Apple Comic Con #Brad Balfour

[live-love-laugh-lesbian]

OMG hiiii dw abt it at all! your answer is long enough and im so sorry :( i hope you feel better now/soon!!

thank youu omg well im in my first year so we do a bit of everything! some coding like coding websites and stuff and some written computer problems as well! (i would explain but it's kinda hard to and i suck at explaining so asdhkjasdhjh) its a bit of everything! programming (practical) and theory!

ahsdjkahsdkj owning two trousers is so real lmao i think i only own one pair ajskldsjad and they are flared so not fit for all weathers ajksdhkjsah they sound sooo cute! if you wouldnt mind sharing them, i'd love to see them! but thats totally up to you! i dont want to make you uncomfortable at all so the choice is yours! im just a lil nosy hehe

omg same when i was a kid i once ate like an entire chocolate egg in a day! the time after that was hell i was sooo sick but its worthh itttttt and yes exactly!! like whenever i was young i had school assemblies and they were all like 'i dont play to draw i play to win' and like yeah so real! as long as no ones too mean and harsh while being competitive then go nuts! i love a little competition!! stardew valley is more of like a relaxing game for me! also animal crossing but like i get so frustrated when i cant catch a fish asjkdhaskj fishing is HELLLLLL in animal crossing alksdjlksj

awww thank youu! your hair sounds beautiful the compliments are most definitely soo valid! my hair never reached that point when i was young tho bc its like SOOOO frizzy and fluffy it almost grows outwards rather than down askjdhkasjh so it was always kinda short and super fluffy ajsdskjh

i think stuff abt the modern day world i really hate is that almost everyones so pretentious nowadays like you see someone and youre like oh theyre nice speaking out abt this and turns out that its all hypocritical and shit but also that feels like its not exactly modern? so ill give another answer and that is INFLATION! everything nowadays is soooo expensive oh my god! and yes governments is so reall

hmm, smth in the next five years... this is sooo not related at all and im totally twisting the meaning of your question but my online friends ajsdhkajsdh okay but serious answer? i wish to see less labour! like yk sites that use fast fashion and stuff that force labour onto people and children and i want that to be addressed and reduced bc like. no. labour is bad how is it acceptable for people to pay such horrible wages to their workers who make them so much money!! that feels so cruel! what about you?

and my question for you: what is something in/from a person that makes them absolutely unacceptable in your eyes? (i dont think that makes sense lmao) basically if you were friends w someone, whats one thing they could do to make you immediately see them as a red flag or like not like them/block them immediately (apart from them saying the r word!)

byee have an awesome day!

-swiftie spring exchange anon!

Hello again! I am doing better atm - I've basically had like, one long bug for three weeks, and like...I'd start feeling better. Go to work. Get worse from the exertion. Have to miss work. Get better slightly, so go to work...yeah XD I do seem to be on the mend now, I've just got a bit of residual pain and cough, and some of my underlying issues are being a bit unpleasant. But I'm taking it XD I had to take almost a week off work last week but I think the prolonged rest helped.

And hey that sounds really cool though!! So guessing you're in uni then? How's that going? Where I am it's starting to come up to exam season, so the people that I know are in uni at the moment are all quite stressed, bless them.

I don't mind showing you them like, privately, but due to my style being quite...unique (by courtsey of making a lot of it) I try to keep it off public tumblr to some extent, just because anyone who knows me would know immediately this was me. Tbh it's not a big deal if they did, but since I work with kids I feel the need to be more careful with social media these days.

And ok but see, I have very straight hair, and I've always wanted frizzy/fluffy hair!! Sometimes I fear we just want what we don't have XD

I think the hypocrisy is related to the modern world however! Social media kinda encourages a very black and white thinking of things, and most things are not so black and white (I mean like, obviously if someone's like. "Haha, I want to murder babies"...that's not a black and white issue. But you get me XD) So you end up with people being like "x is always bad". Then they'll later be like..."this thing that's basically x is fine"?

Inflation is SHIT. Look when I moved into my current place my phone bill was exactly 10 quid a month. It's not like 13 something!! It's not the biggest hike, my energy bill has freaking doubled, but by nature of it starting at a solid 10 I can see the inflation so much easier. It's a 30% increase!!

And see I am very lucky, I have seen a few online friends! My gf and I met through tumblr, and I've got two close friends that by thankful virtue of being in the same country I've been able to meet quite a few times...I met one who I've since lost contact with sadly, but I'm hoping to meet a couple more! OH and one is in a ldr with one of my close friends so I'll see her when she comes here (well I should do) but idk when that would be yet.

And look I have SO many fast fashion complaints. A big reason why I do so much thrifting and sewing is because I just hate fast fashion. I know it's sorta popular in some circles to talk about the shit quality, but it's shit because companies are paying people like a penny a piece for it -.- I refuse to use places like shein and temu...

I think in the next five years...generally I'm wanting to see a shift in climate change. I have a lot of climate anxiety, and I'm hoping that we start getting actual change in how politicians and companies approach the issues?? I want more eco changes. More bikes, cheaper plant based food, less fossil fuels, etc...I also want my government to stop making life harder for no reason. They recently decided people who have visas to work in the care industry over here can't have their kids come from overseas too?? Like there are people who now have their kids in other countries cause of this shit??? If they're working here, they deserve their kids to be here. How is that not the default idea!!

Less generally, I'm hoping to see improvements in my personal life XD I want to see a couple doctors to get some shit sorted out, and I want to improve my art further, and sort out where exactly I'm going with my career.

And nah that makes perfect sense! Honestly I'm a bit of a pushover, I'll take a lot from people. I think mainly the things that will really make me go. Hm. I mean, if you're outright a really terrible person (like if you told me you murder babies for fun, to use my "terrible person" example from above XD) I'm not gonna be interested in talking to you, but that's kinda obvious. But I think the things that make me go "red flag" are usually more personal things based on past experience. For example, I knew someone once who would move my mobility aids away from me, and I'd be like...right well I can't. Move now. Please give them back. And they're one of the few people I've cut contact with. But tbh I feel like I probably need more boundaries, I just get like...what if I'm being too harsh on this person XD

What about you tho??

See you again soon, hope your day has been well when you see this!!

EDIT: I forgot to ask a question back!! D: If you could make one trivial change to the world what would it be? Has to be something small, like...renaming strawberries to be fluffleberries, or making bananas rainbow XD

#swift spring exchange anon

[detective-dracula]

The Way The World Should Be

just thinking to myself about how my city, country, and the world in general could be better. In an ideal scenario, as well as some thoughts on how we might practically get there

The big thing i think, is encouraging more young people to get interested in politics and how the community is run. Thinking of ways to address the issues they think are important and then doing things about it. Especially going out to vote, but also spreading their ideas to people or trying to get into a position where you can make decisions that help make things better

poverty, homelessness, drug addiction, these things suck. Ways it could be fixed: heavily increasing taxes on the mega-rich (i'm talking people who make hundreds of millions yearly, not your average small business owner) in order to build communes with small housing where you get to live for free if you contribute a few hours a week to maintaining the community (cleaning, growing veggies, maybe doing security or administrative necessities). Just like tiny apartments with enough to live. Gotta have free resources to help people make good resumes/ find meaningful employment, as well as free (maybe digital) training on how to handle finances and on some coping mechanisms for dealing with drug problems, could maybe have a free AI therapist for everybody too, with the way that tech is going.

Crime sucks: maybe more surveillance? Like have cameras all around the city, just in public spaces, so even if somebody commits a crime in an alley then we know who was in or around the alley at that time. No cameras in private spaces though, people value their privacy. It helped a bit for Chicago, I think. Plus having the cameras be really visible would help deter crimes, people are less likely to commit crimes when they're being watched

More public encouragement towards fitness and healthy nutrition. Like art around the city could be subtly encouraging vegetables and sports and exercise and stuff.

Make sure the public is educated on healthy nutrition, as well as ways to practically improve your diet. e.g. food plans and what you should be eating instead.

Even more encouragement to improving fitness and health, challenging the body and moving it in as much ways and improving its strength. More public games of sports / martial arts that anybody can join, encouragement to join said sports

There should also be more art everywhere in general. Even having more styles of architecture would create a lot more variety and novelty in everyday life

Definitely more green spaces! There's not enough trees and nature trails and stuff.

More transparency in government: idk how this could work (maybe needing to have regular progress reports on addressing issues) but more of a focus on making sure they actually get stuff done instead of just worrying about getting elected/re-elected. Like making society better and fixing problems instead of making things worse for people. Government at its roots is supposed to be about making things better, we gotta get back to that.

More of a focus on philosophy, people should learn more ways of thinking. They could cover great thinkers and ideas in school more than they currently do, as well as have publicly accessible online resources that anybody could use to learn. For a lot of popular religions, it could be beneficial to encourage more people to really think about and apply the positive messages and ideas beneath the stories instead of just passively hearing the stories or twisting the messages to spread hate.

We could create a peaceful happy society of warrior athlete philosopher artists or whatever people feel like doing. This is a very rough draft obviously but I think it's a good enough ideal to work towards

#human nature #futurism #future #sociology #sociopolitical #politics #issues #serious #ideas #philosophy #hope #peace #world #world politics #humanity

[umbralundertaker]

Feel free to answer public or private re the school dream troubles: what have you tried so far, if anything?

healthy sleeping habits... kind of? I try my best but im a hedonist so self control isnt my strong suit. Like, I dont eat before bed, I go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, limit blue light, only lay in bed when its time to sleep, I wind down and relax beforehand... things like that

I dont have a lot of trouble getting to sleep (most of the time at least, i do struggle with it sometimes), but just knowing for a fact I'll have vivid dreams is a big obstacle. The meds I take also contribute to it, but Ive tried 4 different meds and they all give me bad dreams so i just kind of deal with it. Still up for trying anything that might help lessen the frequency though.

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

August

oh my god i am sooo sorry for the super late reply yet again 😭 i swear this time the reason is very much valid: i got swamped with school work! oh well, i'll just do an August and a third of September recap hehe

also very much expected to get this amount of workload because: 1) it's a postgrad school, and 2) it's U of I 😂 i'm feeling that significant shift from undergrad environment of a private university, to a completely independent mode of a public university, though not that surprised with a culture shock phase because i'm used to hold myself accountable to a mainly prioritizing critical thinking learning system. so now when we get new task for every class, it’s not a big deal (the only major change is these tasks rendered me chronically offline aka i’m spending less time on twitter, who would’ve thought 😂) because it’s a discipline i’m interested in, reading numerous journals and finding new textbooks to read no matter how complicated feels like getting gifts, ha!

two weeks in and so far i'm enjoying everything, special mention to my ten wonderful classmates that are nothing but a joy to be around with. so it's fun engaging with them and straight away feeling like we're longtime best friends who haven't seen each other in a while.

here to proudly announce i've been made the class': interim manager, secretary, treasurer, archivist, publicist, photographer, timekeeper, and scheduling coordinator 😂😂😂 it's a lot, but i'm having fun taking care of stuffs and it's not like there are much to work on, since all eleven of us are always helping each other. since there's not many of us, naturally a close knit group was formed from the very first day, and i'm happy to have them as companions for the next three years.

what i notice these days is that my personality is slowly reverting back to my old cheery, bubbly, and super talkative self? it's funny to observe really, and if you know me from my elementary school days, you'll know which version of me i'm talking about hahaha i’m more carefree, taking more chances, overall extracting happiness out of everything.

rolling back a bit, my Brisbane cousin got married on early August! me and the fam went to Bandung and stayed at Bank lndonesia's guesthouse at Tubagus Ismail. was feeling so much nostalgia because that house complex is a place of so much childhood memories.

the venue for the wedding is an outdoor restaurant at Dago area, and the decor was ethereal! i love it so much, and Dago is famously known for its forestry and cool air, and alhamdulillah at that time the sun wasn't too hot, the trees provide a nice shade, and no rain despite heavy rain previous and next days after! my cousin and i have similar taste in esthetics, food, and music, so it was like being in my dream wedding party 😂 doing bridesmaid duty was easy, the EO made sure all we do is look good for the footage! also because i had to walk my cousin down the aisle, i had to wear heels (not my usual Dr Martens boots) and boy oh boy it was only a 3 cm heels but i suffered a lot on hour five 🥲 and again with the personality change i mentioned earlier: i literally participated in the fun games thing, and one of the games required me to run for my life with those heels (other competitors cheated by taking off theirs 😤) and i didn’t even win because the emcee changed the rules mid game!!! still quite bitter about it tbh 🫠 but then again i had so much fun with my cousins, Bandung trips are always to remember.

mid August marked the day me and the newbie ortho res met some of our seniors. next day we got our new shiny yellow jackets and took photos in front of the famous dean/Balairung building (goodness i still can’t pick them apart) then on late August we went through medical checkup, basic life support class, and skill station trainings. this time i got 'reprimanded' by the doctor who supervised the checkup, she said i'm way too skinny my body mass index is on the lower end of underweight... and i have anemia too 🧍‍♀️ i'm scheduled to see an internist later though!

first semester started on August 28th but we didn't have our first class until Aug 30th. every single class awed me in a way we do really have the best in the field as our teachers, and i learned a lot. my brain's gonna absorb as much as it can while being here. still can't believe that i'm a part of this huge thing, against all odds i still got in. this makes me want to do my very very very best and prove that i deserve the spot. such an amazing feeling to be able to study more and finding out knowledge is truly inexhaustible. then i realized yet again that my line of profession is never-ending learning process, i'm humbly glad to be on this exact place and time, a dentist and orthodontics resident. no words are able to describe how grateful i am.

in another good news, in 138 days i'll be seeing Coldplay in Singapore! doing mental countdown and using it as a motivation to study 😂 i can't wait to get barrier and scream out all the lyrics, thinking maybe i should get a strategy to be noticed by the social media crews (currently devising a head piece or costume lol) and maaaybe i'll end up on coldplay's instagram heheheh

a bit of sad news: this September it'll be my dad's last month ever working as a Bank lndonesia employee, which means i'm moving out of the Blok M/Panglima Polim house and back to Cibubur. though technically for my first year of school i'll be moving temporarily to my Brisbane cousin's home somewhere in Tanah Kusir, so yep, still a South Jakartan (born and raised! haha)

oh well. that's all the exhilarating run of the eighth month, it's 8/12 already!? time flies so fast, i'm about to turn 26 in three months 😂 see you on September post!

#first day of school!!! #sometimes i can't believe i put myself through this yet again #but i know it'll be worthwhile #bismillahirrahmanirrahim always #LET'S GOOOOO #alhamdulillah #a day in my life

[chrishsu-privateequity]

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Average Cost of Cleaning Service for a School Things To Know Before You Get This

How To Receive Janitorial Contracts With Schools This is a great discussion on how to obtain cleaning contracts along with colleges. Below is the break down for what goes in to each contract: When Do The Contracts End? There are two ways to begin a deal and what takes place next. You authorize it. You spend the arrangement and we assure you yet another day when that's your turn. On that time, we promise to make certain your residence is prepared for you to start working once again. A lot of institutions are handling with effort concerns just like all services nowadays. Institutions generally don't obtain a lot of a kick out of working with middle-class younger people with small social skill-sets that aren't even being taught through the actual colleges that hired them. The bad instructors in schools can easily still keep their tasks, but therefore can the high-earning moms and dads of unsatisfactory younger professionals. The truth is that it's the universities and colleges that often tend to fall short. The unsatisfactory job as hard as they really want. This may produce them a wonderful target for business cleaning, carpet, ceramic tile and janitorial solutions. But there additionally is the problem of the quality of the products utilized and prices paid out to dispose of them. They also possess other adverse economic impact on the business and community. For instance, some of the components being made use of to correct openings that could cause long-term contamination might be extremely harmful to individuals and wildlife. 1st question is the school public government function institution or private, charter college. What concerning the one or two personal, charter school that goes out of company all the opportunity? If you inquire about it we have no solution. One of the methods in which one of the factors we instruct is to get individuals entailed with these things and in doing that we minimize trainee debt concerns; we offer greater social solutions and we minimize in financial obligation as effectively as we enhance education overall. This question is details to your region. We can aid you know the impact you might have and consider for your time spent certainly there. For school cleaning companies Sector Support Services on how to aid create your travel a wonderful take in, explore: Learn even more How to aid your country Travel and Landscape Design Whether you're appearing to discover concerning landscape style or body for private preservation, our crew supplies a wide variety of tips and tools to aid you do simply that.

A lot of social universities possess in house union employees for everyday janitorial services. The institution system has a consistent code of standards featuring working problems for its trainees, the regulations on the make use of of restrooms and the suitable staffing. Pupils are required to give their educator a written leave of lack and are likewise forbidden to leave behind their work desks. In some neighborhoods, social schools are simply made it possible for to work with a tiny number of folks and can be forced to admit hundreds of trainees. But, some areas of the country do get that out. In Canada, it's been pretty steady. The district of Ontario is perhaps much more traditional along with its migration policy, at minimum since the 1980s. I assume the majority of provinces are at the very least in support. Some definitely big, but likewise non-urban districts that're going up against some of the significant problems we're encountering. For instance, it's the first time that we've possessed an immigration policy or spending plan deficit in more than 20 years. If they do have in home cleansers after that the focus would be in specialized cleaning solutions. In terms of health dangers, such as breathing sickness such as cancer cells or heart disease, it is very most usual at residence on weekends where moms and dads and child guard the children versus the wind. In China, parents should take out hazardous chemicals which are sent out to the environment, while on school holidays, all citizens need to take out dangerous chemicals which are left behind in their vehicles. Featuring rug, hard floor tile, disinfecting, home furniture and floor care. Do not leave behind anything to blemish. View item web page or blog post on Instagram for additional relevant information! I love how this goes together. I like how this goes all together. When I operate along with individuals I'm additionally very conscious of how they are making use of our restroom room and doing the very most necessary factors in front of them. I enjoy how this goes together. I adore how this goes all together. Personal universities are struck and miss. But what is the social need? We understand our trainee bodies will certainly grow also greater, and the price of public education and learning in a nation like ours are massive. We're not speaking regarding paying for the price of high-quality public education and learning. We're talking about creating links that guard our communities, and the benefits of that job are going to be really felt all over every community. The United States is uniquely positioned and capable to entice and retain the largest social institution grads. They may contract out everything, one company or several services. But what is the perk? It suggests we don't possess to worry regarding all the price of our company in a single bargain or two.". A whole lot of firms are actually carrying out their personal paid-for company, which might be a better fit for Netflix than that of Amazon Prime, the streaming solution. In an e-mail to the Guardian, Hastings claimed he was positive about the new method to licensing. Best tactic is to to begin with train what they tap the services of out for and then revolve solutions. This has actually to be done in a method that makes sure all the brand new hires possess the competence and ability to comply with that mandate, all the perks that happen along with being a excellent PR candidate. But it's additionally one-shot thinking, which demands you to center on what work could be the absolute best area to operate, how that can influence on the hiring process, and that has to be an experienced Public relations specialist.

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